Question

In your opinion, did the homestead act of 1862 contribute to the onset of the civil war?

Answer 1

Although the Homestead Act of 1862 was enacted after the Civil War (1861 to 1865) started, the debate that addresses was significant to the onset of war.

Before the Civil War, other land-grant laws proposed by northern Republicans, similar to the Homestead Act of 1862, had been blocked in Congress by southern Democrats who desired western lands open for acquisition by slave-owners.